AVI-7288 for Marburg Virus in Nonhuman Primates and Humans

In this study, a potential therapy for Marburg virus infection was assessed by means of a lethal challenge in nonhuman primates, and key pharmacokinetic data in humans were determined. U.S. regulatory approval is being sought under the Animal Rule. Marburg hemorrhagic fever is a rare human disease that is caused by Marburg virus (MARV), a single-stranded, negative-sense RNA virus. 1 – 4 Marburg hemorrhagic fever was first identified during an outbreak in Marburg, Germany, in 1967, when laboratory workers were infected while dissecting African green monkeys from Uganda. Since then, infections in humans have occurred in Africa, as well as sporadically outside Africa in travelers returning home from that continent. 1 , 2 , 5 , 6 The next MARV outbreak is likely to occur without warning, similar to the recent epidemic of the closely related Ebola virus (EBOV). 7 – 9 MARV infects the host when . . .